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Written by Genevieve Helsby
My First Classical Music Book [ Naxos / CD/Book - released 2/Feb/2009 ] This is a delightfully colourful introduction to classical music, aimed to fire the imagination of young children aged 5-7 years. Readers are asked to think about the different places in which we might hear music, whether it is in a concert hall, or... |
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CAMILLE SAINT-SAENS
Saint-Saens: Piano Concerto No. 2 (with Tchaikovsky - Symphony No. 4) [recorded in 1992] Yefim Bronfman (piano) / Berliner Philharmoniker [Berlin Philharmonic], Kurt Sanderling [ EuroArts DVD / DVD - released 22/Dec/2010 ] "The DVD camera lets us watch his mercurial hands in astonishment as well as pleasure...This is among the most revealing accounts available" (Gramophone) |
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JOHANNES BRAHMS
Brahms Cycle [Symphonies, Concertos & Overtures] (recorded in 2015) Yefim Bronfman (piano) Julia Fischer (violin) / The Cleveland Orchestra, Franz Welser-Most [ Belvedere / BBC Blu-Ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 1/Nov/2017 ] The Cleveland Orchestra is the aristocrat among American orchestras (The Telegraph) and its conductor, Franz Welser-Möst, rules his subjects with a velvet glove. Indeed, velvet and silk keep showing up in descriptions of the Clevelanders sound under... |
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BEETHOVEN / MENDELSSOHN / SCHUMANN / SCHUBERT / WAGNER / FRANCK / etc
The complete Wilhelm Furtwangler on record Yehudi Menuhin (violin) Edwin Fisher (piano) / Philharmonia Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Berliner Philharmoniker, Wilhelm Furtwängler [ Warner Classics / 55 CD Box Set - released 24/Sep/2021 ] Wilhelm Furtwängler is a musical titan, one of the greatest conductors of the 20th century. Some would say he is the greatest of all. A supreme, inimitable interpreter of the Austro-German symphonic repertoire, and of Wagner's music dramas. |
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JOHANNES BRAHMS
Brahms: Symphonies / Concertos / German Requiem Yehudi Menuhin (violin) Edwin Fisher (piano) / Stockholm Philharmonic Chorus & Orchestra, Wiener Philharmoniker, Berliner Philharmoniker, Wilhelm Furt [ Warner Classics / 6 CD Box Set - released 24/Aug/2018 ] Wilhelm Furtwängler saw "a wild, fantastic and even demonic universe" in the symphonies of Brahms. "Music is not something that is invented and constructed," he wrote, "but something that grows, emerging … directly from the hands of nature." |
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JOSEPH HAYDN
Haydn: The Creation Yeree Suh (soprano), Tilman Lichdi (tenor), Matthias Winckhler (baritone) / Le Concert des Nations, Jordi Savall [ Alia Vox SACD / 2 Hybrid SACD - released 19/Nov/2021 ] "The orchestral side of this new recording of Haydn's oratorio "The Creation" brings many other delights, partly because Jordi Savall and his ensemble Le Concert de Nations are vigorous champions of period instruments" Times |
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SERGEI RACHMANINOV
Rachmaninov: Symphony No. 1 / Piano Concerto No. 1 Yevgeny Sudbin (piano) / Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Lan Shui [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 19/Jul/2013 ] "With Sudbin asserting his interpretative personality [in the Concerto], the orchestra and conductor are inspired to match a thrilling performance that stands alongside the greatest." (Daily Telegraph) |
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J. S. BACH
Bach: Unaccompanied Cello Suites (3LP) Yo Yo Ma (cello) [ Sony Classical / 3 LP - released 20/Sep/2023 ] Sony Classical is proud to announce the release of Yo-Yo Ma's new album Six Evolutions - Bach Cello Suites, his third and final recording of these works. Bach and his Cellos Suites entered Yo-Yo Ma's life when he was four, when he learned the first... |
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J. S. BACH
Yo-Yo Ma: The Bach Project: Cello Suites - Live from Athens Yo-Yo Ma (cello) [ C Major DVD / DVD - released 22/May/2020 ] "In 2018, Yo-Yo Ma began a two-year journey, setting out to perform Johann Sebastian Bach's six suites for solo cello in one sitting, across 36 locations on 6 continents. For Yo-Yo, Bach's 300-hundred-year-old music is one extraordinary example of... |
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ROBERT SCHUMANN
Schumann: String Quartet No. 1 in a minor op. 41 No1 / String Quartet No. 3 in A Major op. 41 No3 Zehetmair Quartett [ ECM Records / CD - released 26/May/2003 ] GRAMOPHONE MAGAZINE RECORDING OF THE YEAR 2003 - "Revelatory performances that plumb the soul of Schumann's wild and searching muse" (Gramophone Recording of the Month June 2003) |
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SERGEI PROKOFIEV
Prokofiev: Cinderella (complete ballet recorded in 2003) Zurich Ballet / Karine Seneca / Stanislav Jermakov / Marine Castel / Jozef Varga / Vladimir Fedoseyev (cond) [ Bel Air Classiques / DVD - released 1/Dec/2008 ] G - Heinz Spoerli's Zurich Ballet Cinderella production, filmed as a musical from Hollywood, turned out to be a huge success at its premiere and must rank as one of the most 'dancerly' stagings Prokofiev's popular ballet has ever received. |
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2Cellos
Dedicated [ Sony Classical / CD - released 17/Sep/2021 ] 2CELLOS invite their fans to celebrate their milestone tenth anniversary with them on the new album DEDICATED. "We're celebrating a decade of dedication to our projects, our music, and our fans," says Šulic. "Over the years, we grew up as 2CELLOS... |
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LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
Beethoven: Symphony No.9 "Choral" (studio & Live) / Egmont: incidental music Aase Nordmo-Løvberg, Christa Ludwig, Waldemar Kmentt, Hans Hotter, Birgit Nilsson / Philharmonia Chorus & Orchestra, Otto Klemperer [ Warner SACD / 2 Hybrid SACD - released 14/Feb/2025 ] "…Otto Klemperer's energy and momentum come not from his tempos but from the way the rhythms are articulated. In the first movement and Scherzo the heroic, teeth-gritted determination are physically gripping, In this Ninth combined urgency with... |
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TRADITIONAL
Christmas with the Academy Academy & Chorus of St Martin in the Fields, Sir Neville Marriner [ Decca Australian Eloquence / CD - released 1/Nov/2012 ] The story of the birth of Jesus more than two thousand years ago has been the source of inspiration for countless poets and musicians, as well as practitioners of other forms of art. The infant, born of a virgin in a lowly cattle shed, because there... |
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JAN LADISLAV DUSSEK
Dussek: Messe Solemnelle Academy of Ancient Music / AAM Choir, Richard Eggar, with Stefanie True (soprano) & Gwilym Bowen (tenor) [ AAM Records / CD - released 10/Oct/2020 ] "This enjoyable, well recorded rendition, with lovely solo singing, has clear passionate advocacy; notwithstanding the odd rough edge the performance does Dussek's mass proud." BBC Music Magazine Awards 2022 Shortlisted - Choral |
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JOSEPH HAYDN
Haydn: Symphonies Academy of Saint Martin in the Fields, Sir Neville Marriner [ Decca Australian Eloquence / 15 CD Box Set - released 22/Jan/2021 ] With the delightful original LP cover illustrations, this 'original jackets' presentation collects together for the first time the 33 Haydn Symphonies recorded by Sir Neville Marriner and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields. |
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LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
Beethoven: Symphonies Nos 4 & 7 Academy of St Martin In The Fields, Joshua Bell [ Sony Classical / CD - released 20/Feb/2013 ] "These are splendidly alert performances, responding to every nuance in the music, and they made me listen to Beethoven with fresh ears. Particularly impressive is the pianissimo playing Bell obtains from the orchestra...This recording is a real plea |
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GEORG FRIDERIC HANDEL
Handel - Marriner: The Decca Legacy Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Neville Marriner [ Decca Australian Eloquence / 19 CD Box Set - released 22/Mar/2024 ] A unique collection of L'Oiseau-Lyre, Argo, Decca and Philips albums in original covers, showcasing both the genius of Handel and the musicianship of the classic ASMF/Marriner pairing at its most stylish. |
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LEONARD BERNSTEIN
Bernstein: Mass (A Theatre Piece for Singers, Players and Dancers) Alan Titus (baritone) / The Norman Scribner Choir, The Berkshire Boy Choir, Leonard Bernstein [ Sony Classical / 2 CD - released 24/Sep/2021 ] This is a remastered 2-CD edition, which includes a 140-page booklet created in collaboration with The Leonard Bernstein Office with numerous previously unreleased photos and facsimiles, synopsis and libretto, and new liner notes. |
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W. A. MOZART
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Mozart: String Quartets Vol 3 [No 17 K.458 & No 18 K.464] Alberni Quartet [ IMP Classics / CD - released 20/Nov/1992 ] "The recorded sound and balance are impeccable." |